ABSTRACT ? NEUROPATHOLOGY CORE The overall goal of the Neuropathology Core of the Rush ADCC is to facilitate innovative translational clinical- pathologic, molecular, and biochemical research that can overcome critical barriers in scientific progress on the pathogenesis of cognitive decline and transitions from normal aging to mild cognitive impairment and dementia, ultimately leading to better preventions, accurate and meaningful biomarkers, and effective interventions. The Core will do this by collecting and then providing a diverse range of investigators a resource of optimally preserved, processed and stored biospecimens, and state-of-the-art neuropathologic data and diagnoses, from clinically well-characterized older subjects. Over the past funding cycle, the Core has continued to support a diverse range of studies including those that link pathology to normal aging and transitions to dementia, link risk factors to pathology, and link data from contemporary biochemical and molecular techniques to risk factors, cognitive decline, and transitions. In addition, the core has distributed biospecimens to externally-funded investigators at Rush, at other NIA funded Alzheimer?s disease centers, and to researchers across the country and internationally. The Neuropathology Core has facilitated the publication of numerous manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. In the new funding cycle, the Core will continue to facilitate these studies and publications by continuing to practice optimal autopsy and collection procedures to obtain ante-mortem and post-mortem specimens and continue to use the uniform, standard and flexible techniques for preservation, processing and storage that allows for diverse research studies. The core will maintain a DNA bank for all living and deceased participants. The Core will continue to use state-of-the-art diagnostic assessments on brain tissue to diagnose and quantify Alzheimer?s disease, cerebral infarct, Lewy body disease, hippocampal sclerosis, and TDP-43 pathology and will expand assessments to include the olfactory bulbs and watershed regions. Using modern data management systems the Neuropathology Core will index and store data and diagnoses making these readily available for external research. The Neuropathology Core will continue to distribute high quality specimens and neuropathologic data and diagnoses to support externally funded investigators to facilitate and expand the scope of research on normal aging and transitions to dementia.